


Gifts

by equivalencept



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, Fluff, really light on the relationship stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 01:28:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8183747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/equivalencept/pseuds/equivalencept
Summary: Over a year after she left Gao, Veta wants to meet up with Blue Team again, particularly Fred-104.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this over seven months ago, so a lot of the details are not completely canonical with A Necessary Truth or Lessons Learned from Halo: Fractures. This was originally published on my tumblr, at http://equivalencept.tumblr.com/post/139696580766/gifts. I hope you enjoy!

Veta studied the image on the wall across from her as she rode up the space elevator to the station above.  _“Welcome to Circumstance!_ ” it declared in cheerful lettering over a picture of the mountainous planet. In smaller lettering, the image listed touristy facts about the world - ‘renown universities of all fields of studies’, ‘exemplary courts and judiciary systems’, ‘third largest population in the Epsilon Eridani System’.

Veta adjusted her backpack on the seat beside her. Apparently no one had updated those facts in some time. Reach, Tribute, and Circumstance had all been decimated during the Covenant’s attack of the Epsilon Eridani System in late 2552. Circumstance had had almost all of its major population centers destroyed. However, it was otherwise largely ignored by the Covenant in favor of Reach, for its military importance and its Forerunner artifacts, as well as Tribute, a major economic boon for the UNSC. The Covenant, in all likelihood, had been planning on glassing Circumstance, but then the Great Schism occurred in November 2552, and the Sangheili and Jiralhanae turned from attacking humans to attacking each other. By then, Reach had been glassed, Tribute partially glassed, and Circumstance firmly had the largest human population in the solar system.

It was currently December of 2554, over two years after the Great Schism, but former Covenant still remained in the system, particularly Kig-Yar and Jiralhanae. UNSC forces regularly engaged them in battle, but primarily only around Tribute and Reach. The UNSC had established its headquarters for the system around Circumstance, and the Kig-Yar and Jiralhanae avoided the planet – the Kig-Yar because they were culturally more inclined to raid than to fight battles, and the Jiralhanae because they lacked the ship power to attack too many ships at once. Which was why Veta was reasonably confident that the space elevator she was riding wasn’t going to get torn about by an attacking Covenant ship leaving slip space.

Given the relative peace, Circumstance had started rebuilding. Courts and universities had been a major source of pride for the citizens of the planet and some schools and courts had already reopened. It helped that the UNSC had set up its HQ in the space station above Circumstance, which poured money into the planet below.

Currently attached to the space station were three of the eight ships in Admiral Tuwa’s task force, getting repairs. They had been damaged in a battle against three former Covenant ships, manned by Jiralhanae. One ship had been lost in the battle. The remaining four ships, as well as several other ships on loan from the Navy, were currently in orbit around Circumstance. Another task force guarded Tribute. Still, hopes for humanity in the system were high – winning a battle of eight versus three with only one ship being lost, when previously three UNSC ships for every one Covenant were needed to win a battle, were very good odds.

And Veta thought there were good odds of finding Blue Team in the space station above Circumstance. Blue Team had kept in regular contact with the Gammas, and Fred in particular sent messages to Veta. Lucy and Tom had been moved to serve under Admiral Hood shortly after the Gammas were taken from Blue Team, but Veta knew that the Spartan IIs were still stationed with Tuwa’s task force. With half of its ships down, the task force would not be running missions in some time. Admiral Tuwa was reportedly overseeing the space station temporarily, and she would probably want to keep the Spartans close. It also made little sense to keep Spartans, accustomed to ground missions, on a ship that was doing nothing but guarding a planet.

Even though Veta was reasonably sure that Blue Team was on the station, she didn’t know  _where_ on the station they were. Wanting to keep the Spartans’ location secret, the military would not even acknowledge that the Spartans were on the space station, let alone where their private quarters were.

Finding out things other people didn’t want her to know was in her job description, however, so Veta would poke around until she found them.

The space elevator finished ascending. Veta grabbed her backpack and made her way through security. Typically you only went through security before getting onto the space elevator, but since the UNSC had taken over the space station, there were doing security checks right after as well. There was no special designated spot for it, however, and the room they were doing it in was bustling with military personnel and some civilians moving from one part of the station to the other.

“Name?” A very tired guard asked her.

“Military Police Special Agent Ava Lin.” She placed her badge and military ID on the desk. After being declared dead on Gao, by both the UNSC and her former government, Veta had been forced by ONI to change her name. She had been allowed to choose it, at least, though ONI had decided that only they had to right to approve it. The last name was her maternal grandmother’s, and ONI thought it was common enough that they approved it. The first name she just thought was pretty.

The guard checked her credentials and passed her on with a “Have a good day, detective.”

“Detective? A detective is here?” This came from a commander who was passing by. He seemed a bit nervous, especially when he say the ONI symbol on Veta’s suit. Maybe finding out where Blue Team was would be easier than she thought.

“Yes, sir. I am looking to follow up with Spartan II Blue Team on some questions about an investigation they helped me out with earlier. Could you tell me where they are?” A lie. Veta kept her tone polite, to better put the commander at ease. Sure enough, he seemed to relax, though that might have been due to the realization that she was not here to ask  _him_ any questions.

The commander apparently worked on the same ship as them, and was able to give her directions to their private quarters on the station. After that was done, he quickly walked away. Veta made a note on her COM pad to let Admiral Tuwa know somehow that this commander was nervous at the notion of being investigated, and that he had willing told someone where to find the Spartans, very classified information that only their commanding officers could give out. She would deal with that later, though. For now, she made her way to Blue Team’s room.

It was easy to get into the private quarters section of the base. She simply walked like she belonged – and as a member of the UNSC military, she actually did, though she was reluctant to admit it. Blue Team’s room was pushed off to the side, just past a janitorial room.

Veta knocked on the door, and after a second, Kelly opened it. “Inspector!” She’d cut her hair from the last time Veta had seen her, and was now wearing it in a pixie cut.

“Ah, it’s detective now.”

“Veta?” “Lopis?” That was Fred’s voice, coming from deeper into the room, and Linda’s voice just after him.

“It’s Ava Lin now. All around a new identity.” Veta tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. She understood why she had to change her name, even if she didn’t like it. Kelly ushered Veta inside.

“What are you doing here? Is Saber with you?” Fred asked, standing up from the bed he was sitting on. Linda remained sitting on her own bunk. It was just like Blue Team to skip the niceties and get straight to the point, though Veta was glad to see their concern for her subordinates.

“No, they’re taking their certification tests right now.”

“Certification for being crime scene investigators, right? On Circumstance? Shouldn’t they be doing that on Mars or Earth, not a planet that was recently bombarded?” Kelly asked, shutting the door behind her. Blue Team’s room was large enough to fit three beds, and not much else. The Spartan’s footlockers appeared to be shoved under their bunks. Not wanting to be so presumptuous as to sit on their beds, Veta remained standing by the door.

“One of Circumstance’s famous schools is the Interplanetary Academy for Police Investigation,” Veta explained. “It’s very prestigious. It unofficially sets the standard for police investigations. I even heard about it back when I was on Gao. Anybody wanting to investigate crime on an interplanetary level find their aspirations a lot easier to reach with a degree from it.” Veta paused, “Livi, Mark and Ash- they look older than they are, but they still don’t look quite old enough to be detectives. I thought the people we work with would take them more seriously if they had a degree from there.”

Fred leaned against the side of his bed, fully facing her. He looked much the same from when Veta had seen him last, though he was clean shaven this time. On Gao, he had not had any time to shave and had several days worth of facial hair by the time he had taken his helmet off in front of her. Fred frowned. “Admittedly, I don’t really understand how universities and degrees work, but don’t you have to attend a school first to get a degree from it? You said the Gammas were only getting certified. Also, was this academy not destroyed in the fighting?”

Veta smiled at him. “The answers to both your questions are related. Part of the school was destroyed in the fighting, but its remaining faculty are eager to begin accepting students again. They – and here is an academic institution at its finest – they don’t want another school on some other planet taking the place as the best while Circumstance is still down. But they need students and proof that they’re still graduating fine detectives to retain their fame. So the Chancellor of the Academy is willing to give an honorary degree to Ash, Mark, and Livi, provided they can pass the standard examinations. In return, the academy can list three more people as graduates of the class of 2554. Proof that the school is still open for business.”

“Have Mark, Livi, and Ash started the examinations yet?” Fred asked. Kelly had joined Linda on her bed, and the two were mainly watching Fred and Veta talk.

“They’ve been taking tests for the past week. I’ve been kicked off of the campus in the meantime – I think they’re afraid I’ll help them cheat – but they do give me updates on how they’re doing. They already passed their physical tests with flying colors-”

Linda interrupted, “They’re Spartans, of course they did.”

“They also passed their equipment testing: how good are they at using surveillance equipment, tracking, fingerprinting, et cetera.  Yesterday and today they are being tested on how they conduct interviews, and how they analyze crime scenes, which are the most important tests. Whatever they did not learn during Spartan training, they were able to learn from me over the past year and a half.” Veta smiled again. “They learn extremely quickly.”

“They’re Spartans.” This time the phrase was chorused by both Fred and Kelly.

“After this, they’re done their examinations, and I know they’ll pass with exceptional marks. I was wondering, as a surprise for them, if you could come see them?” This was the main reason that Veta had tracked down Blue Team. The second reason for her visit was in her backpack.

“Of course, we’d love to see them again.” Kelly said, a sentiment that was echoed by Fred and Linda.

“I don’t know if you’ll be able to request leave in time-”

Fred snorted. “We’ve been bored out of our skulls on this space base with nothing to do. I’m sure Admiral Tuwa would be ecstatic to be rid of us for a few days.”

 “We probably won’t even have to fill out the proper forms to request leave,” Kelly stated, “Tuwa’s suggested us taking leave before, but we weren’t interested in it. We didn’t know you guys were here. We’ve been annoying the admiral with requests for missions, so she’ll probably want us off this base as soon as physically possible. Come on Linda, let’s go find her. Or her assistant, rather.”

When Fred moved to go with them, Linda said, “No, you stay here, Fred. Pack. Talk to Veta. Give her the”-and here Linda waved her hand around, looking for a certain word- “module operation thing.”

Fred’s eyes lit up. “Oh, right! Let’s see, where did I put that…” The door shut behind Kelly and Linda. Well, this gave Veta time to follow up on the second reason she wanted to see Blue Team, especially Fred.

Fred bent over to pull his footlocker out from underneath his bed, which gave Veta an unblocked view of his behind. Veta coughed and busied herself with playing with the strap of her backpack.

“Found it!” He pulled something small and thin from his footlocker. He straightened up but hesitated before walking over to Veta. “Um, I saw this in a shop a few months ago, and I thought of you.” He gave Veta what was in his hands.

It was a thin magnet, about the size of her palm, the kind of thing civilians put on their chatterboxes or soldiers on their COM pads as easily-removable decoration. The magnet was a drawing of a cardinal with writing superimposed on it:

‘My  _modus operandi_

is dial up the awesome

and break

the knob off’

Veta had to cover her grin with her hand. Well, that explained Linda’s ‘module operation’ comment. “This made you think of me?”

“Yeah, I saw ‘ _modus operandi’_ and remembered you mentioning those words when talking about serial killers. And,” Fred shifted from foot to foot, eyes focused on a point above her head. “Um, you’re…”

“And I’m awesome?”

Fred stopped staring above her head and met her eyes again. “Yes, that.”

Veta let her hand drop away from her smile. She grinned harder at how the top of Fred’s ears had turned slightly red. Mark, Ash, and Olivia had mentioned that Fred always gave positive feedback to them while they were under his command, but apparently he wasn’t so well versed in giving more personal compliments.

“Well, thank you. And it just so happens that I have something for you. Close your eyes,” she commanded and unslung her backpack from her shoulder. When Fred just gave her a confused look, she flapped her hand at him. “Come on, we don’t have all day.”

Fred sighed heavily through his nose but acquiesced. “I’m not opening my mouth, though. I learned not to do that after the time my teammates put ground ghost pepper in my mouth.”

 “Oh- oh my god, that’s terrible.”

“You’re laughing.”

“It’s both terrible and hilarious. Well, what I have is nothing that bad.” Veta unzipped her backpack and pulled out Fred’s present. She wasn’t tall enough to reach over Fred’s head, so she moved to climb up on the bed Fred was still standing next to.

“What are you doing?” Fred asked at the sound of the bedsprings squeaking. Veta just shushed him, and pulled the gift over his head.

“It’s a beanie!” Fred exclaimed, moving his hands up to his head.

“Yes, well, I saw it in a clothing store and it just shouted ‘Spartan II program’ at me, so,” Veta lowered her hands to his shoulders before quickly dropping them. “You can open your eyes, stupid.”

“You’ve picked up Saber’s tendency towards elementary-level insults, I see,” Fred said, and then frowned upon opening his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

Veta was no longer smiling, and instead was fidgeting.

“Oh, nothing, its-” Veta breathed deeply, and clasped her hands behind her back. Now for the second reason she wanted to meet up with Fred again. She remained standing on the low bunk, so she was at relative eye level with Fred. “I got it as sort of a thank-you gift. After Gao, I…did not react well to losing my entire investigation team, once I truly realized they were dead.” Her abilities as an investigator had not been impeded by her grief, or otherwise she would have quickly been removed from her new-found team. But the Gammas had been worried… “I think Ash or ‘Livi, or even Mark, mentioned it to you. The messages you sent me in response – the encouragement and sympathies you expressed – were very helpful. I- you told me things I needed to hear, and I am very thankful for that.” Her subordinates had vaguely alluded to Fred losing many teammates himself. She had been able to piece together that it had something to do with the loss of Reach, though she didn’t know the details. She wondered if Fred had felt any grief himself, fighting again in the same solar system as that glassed planet.

Currently, however, Fred did not appear to be expressing much emotion at all. He was staring at her quizzically, head tilted slightly to the side. Then he said softly, “No need for thanks, Veta. I’m glad I was able to help, even somewhat. I – well, I understood what you were going through. Not exactly, but enough.” Another vague reference to Fred losing people. Veta did not expect much more. It had taken the Gammas over a month of working with Veta to mention that two of their original teammates, Dante and Holly, had died, and Veta highly doubted Fred would be any more forthcoming with similar painful details. She was not going to pry in any case. If he wanted to tell her, he would.

Veta breathed deeply again, and made a weak attempt at a smile, which Fred returned.

“I do like the hat, it’s very soft. It – oh, what’s this?” He had reached up to touch the beanie, and had touched the emblem in the front. He pulled the hat off his head to look at it. “Oh, it’s a two, like what the Spartan programs use,” Fred said happily. There was indeed what looked like an embroidered roman numeral two on the front of the beanie. “Wait, why would something like this show up in a clothing store?”

Veta snorted, happy for the subject change. “I think the symbol’s actually supposed to be the Gemini symbol, not a roman numeral two.”

Fred gave her another questioning look. “Is that another popular culture reference I don’t get?”

“A really old one, yes.” Veta finally switched from standing on the bed to sitting on it, while Fred started packing for his teammates. They talked about the zodiac and other trivial but entertaining topics until there was a knock on the door.

“Leave is – hat!” Kelly exclaimed upon Fred opening the door, and promptly took the beanie off his head.

“N- Kelly, give that back, it’s mine! Veta gave it to me!”

“It’s the team hat. See, it says ‘Spartan II’. Thanks for the gift, Veta.” Kelly ducked away from Fred’s outreached arms, and put the hat on her head.

“Anytime, Kelly. Leave is approved, then?” She asked Linda, finishing Kelly’s earlier statement.

“Yes. We get off until repairs of our ship are finished.”

“Honestly, I think Admiral Tuwa just wants us out of her hair.” Kelly said. She and Fred were currently standing rigidly a few feet across from one another, with Kelly’s hands protectively covering the hat on her head.

“Excellent. I know Mark, Ash, and Livi will be happy to see you.”

“And us, them.” Fred finally looked away from Kelly, apparently (probably temporarily) conceding the hat to her.

Veta smiled. “Let’s go, then.”

**Author's Note:**

> The magnet Veta gets is based off a real picture you might have seen - its from the Troubled Birds series.


End file.
